Robinson brothers ditch for climate action

Outside Tisbury Town Hall Runar Finn Robinson, 11, and Odin Robinson, 9, call for the United States to return to the Paris Climate Agreement. - Rich Saltzberg

Brothers Runar Finn and Odin Robinson, 11 and 9 respectively, skipped school Friday to demand the U.S. return to the Paris Climate Agreement by holding signs outside Tisbury Town Hall.

“School strike for action on climate crisis,” one of their signs read.

President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement in June 2017, a dramatic and controversial decision. Runar Finn, who attends the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School, and Odin, who is homeschooled, aren’t new to political activism. In December they traveled with their family to Washington, D.C. to support the Green New Deal spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The boys garnered quite a bit of attention Friday, with several people writing in to alert The Times to the two boys sitting outside town hall.

Not a good example to set. Go to school, get educated, and use your intelligence to foment change. Pretty soon activism will outpace baseball as the national pastime, and for what? Kids need to be taught how to get up and go to work, not how to shove their political ideals in my face. Let them form their own beliefs.

andy– these kids are doing exactly what you say they should do. They are educated, and they are using their intelligence to foment change. Missing one day of school is not going to do much damage to their education. It would really be a great thing for America, and the world, if people got off the sports “opiate” and started being aware of the impending collapse of our civilization. And may I remind you, that neither of these children can legally “work”. “Shove their political ideals in my face ” ? Am I to take that as if someone has a different idea than you, it is “shoved” in your face. ? Isn’t there some sort of sports event that you can watch rather than comment here ? You can go watch baseball, and leave the fate of the planet to educated people.

None of us commenters have any idea what the Robinson Brothers are studying, reading, discussing…. from where I sit, they have an ideal opportunity to not just fall asleep in class listening to grown ups drone on about American Civics. Oh no, we celebrate the original Civil Disobedience of dumping tea in Boston Harbor! We have a federal holiday for the master of nonviolent civil disobedience Dr. Martin Luther King, jr.! So besides American Civics add US History. And as for climate change, now they get to learn personal finance, yes personal finance. The climate is one giant energy bank. When these kids put their chore and christmas money in their savings account it might grow… but only if they don’t take it out again to spend. And you grown ups hating on these kids might want to take note – that’s exactly what the climate does with energy. Scientists call it our “energy budget”. We’re taking it in faster than it goes back to space…. 4 Hiroshima A-bombs of energy every second, round the clock, 365 days per year. I think these kids are getting an education in psychology too. The psychology of denial and suppression. Go Guys! If I get to Tisbury on a Friday, I’ll ask to shake your hands!